What is the minimum age for drinking alcohol in Australia?
A. The minimum age for buying alcohol in Australia is 18. People younger than 18 are legally permitted to drink alcohol, provided the alcohol is drunk in the presence of parents or consumed with a meal in premises licensed to serve alcohol. Professor Sitharthan Thiagarajan from the Australian Centre for Addiction Research estimates that 20 percent of Australians are problems drinkers and 5 percent of those are alcoholics. Problem drinkers are defined as people who are not dependent on alcohol but who drink a lot and who have suffered consequences due to their drinking.
